Another website finished! We have been working hard with Design Work Studios to create their stunning new site, now live and optimised on PC, tablet and mobile. Working closely with Design Work Studio founders, Dan and Pete, our team have embodied the quality, drive and passion that their architectural studio embodies.Featuring beautiful imagery from past architectural projects as large background sliders, the homepage immediately gives the impression of high-end design projects and exceptional aesthetics. The sleek, darkened images contrast perfectly with the orange details popping out for that dash of colour, adding to the sophistication of the site.The extensive portfolio page has a real wow factor, the interactive panels drawing your eye to appreciate the impressive and imaginative design and build projects that Design Work Studios have completed. With so many personalities in the team, they wanted a creative and unique ‘about’ page, which even features a short interview with each staff member, questions including their favourite building, what they would bring to a treasure island and which Disney character they would be!Read the full blog here...See More

As a business owner it can be a challenge to understand the best practice requirements for keeping your financial records in order, whether a small business owner or self-employed.The Real Business Club offers workshops to help individuals / small businesses understand these requirements.This is a key series for business owners who want to improve their financial knowledge! Whether you have been in business for years or just starting out these workshops will •Help you plan •Introduce effective financial management that leads to business growth •Save you time and moneyThe entire series is as follows:26 March: Records and cost management9 April: Pricing and Sales16 April: Cash Flow and getting paid30 April: Long Term Financial DecisionsBook the Records and Cost Management workshop here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/records-cost-management-finance-for-business-owners-workshops-tickets-54694818675?ref=elink ;Book all 5 workshops here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/all-five-finance-for-business-owners-workshops-tickets-54694581967?ref=elinkAll workshops run from 7:00pm – 9:30pm at: Broadway House, 4-8 The Broadway, NEWBURY, Berkshire RG14 1BAUse the Links above to book your FREE place, email admin@therealbusinessclub.co.uk, phone 0118 968 0813See More

2019 has landed and as always, I'm certainly looking to continue developing both myself, our team and the company in general. As I look back at last year, I'm proud of what we achieved and we certainly developed our business substantially. I'm excited about this year and with that in mind, here are some tips that I feel every business should embrace to really win in 2019:Plan to succeedIt may sound obvious but companies who are successful in their marketing endeavours have a strong marketing plan to guide them. They will have certainly identified their target market(s) and go after them strongly with a budget which is carefully managed and justified. That's not to say everything in the plan will work but that brings me to my next point...Test and measureThis is vital especially given the rate things change around us on a daily basis. What worked last year / month / week, may not work the same this time ( for better or worse). So track the impact of campaigns and your marketing in general to ensure the returns are there. Also ensure you're in possession of all the facts. If you track lead sources via Google Analytics for example, you'll have a good handle on what's working but do you cross reference with Assisted Conversions? This metric helps identify the role certain sources played in the build-up to generating a lead/sale. For example I may visit your website via Google Ad today and come back tomorrow after Googling your brand name and clicking your organic listing or just typing the address in direct. In that instance, organic or direct would get the glory but if it hadn't been for Google Ad it may never have come in at all. Identify what you should be sellingWhen I say 'should be' I want you to think about that for a minute as I appreciate it sounds blindingly obvious, but it's amazing how many companies overlook the simplicity and power of doing just that. Whatever you sell, you've likely got different variables within the product range to sell small ones, medium ones and big ones, as well as cheaper ones and expensive ones. You get the idea - ultimately there will be those which make good money and those you should probably avoid selling given the hassle they bring with them. My question is really simple - which of your products earns the most profit? It's interesting how many people truly know the answer to that and what we often find is that there's not much difference in terms of work to sell something at the bottom of the range to the top of the range. In some examples, there's actually less work involved to make a lot more money. I therefore believe you need a good handle on what you're selling and what you're making. Before you embark on a marketing quest to boost sales, make sure you're likely to make good profit from the efforts as it builds momentum. I believe a reason a lot of companies fail is that they've got their pricing wrong and a key part of that is they've overlooked what they need to invest in marketing and factored that into the price point. We all need to be 'sold' a product/service/idea but if you've got no money to get noticed or tell a good story then how can you really compete? If you can't present yourself in a really smart way and be seen/found in the places your dream clients are going to be then what can you expect to come your way? Selling on price to people you probably don't want to sell to and then guess what happens...So keep it simple and from your marketing point of view, focus hard on a very limited number of items which will genuinely make good money and hammer that every day. If you're constantly changing the message and focus of what you sell you'll make it impossible for people to help you; whether that's your own staff, your existing customers, introducers in the market, channel partners etc.Listen to the expertsI've always believed in the team ethic within any organisation which stems from playing sport earlier in my life and I now view my business as a true team. With the team in mind we have people we employee directly and others we bring in to add additional skills / input / experience and that typically saves us time and money, improving our end result. So get the right people around you and listen to what they are telling you and saying in your sector. Then look at what you can do within your marketing plan to take advantage of different situations/moments.Focus on your customer service (and monitor your reputation online)A bad experience goes a long way and with more and more review websites popping up (both about products/services but also about what it's like to work for you and deal with you in general as well now!) you need to ensure your reputation is good. You're going to need a lot more marketing credits if your reputation is bad vs good to channel the appropriate resource to keep a positive view out there.Advertise on social mediaThe power available at your fingertips is incredible and as more and more companies switch on to the advertising opportunities, the costs are typically going in one direction. Get involved asap, find the network that works, take point 2 above into account and go for it.Use a great lead management systemIf you're in the service sector then leads are key to growth and as important is your ability to nurture and turn them in to clients. Last year we moved from Zoho CRM to pipedrive and it's been a hugely positive move indeed. The leads from our own website and other sources are logged automatically within here now and you can automate a certain amount of tasks/responses to make life easier. The biggest and best feature for me is the fact it goes out of its way to alert you if you haven't set a next action for an open opportunity (for example; call to follow-up, send a proposal, book a meeting etc.). It's a relatively small element which has an absolutely massive impact. Time kills deals so the quicker you can progress the sale, the stronger your chances are likely to be for a successful outcome.Stay humbleI say this in the sense of your brand as some companies get carried away in periods of success and that can lead to a downward trend as strong as the boom time you've just experienced. In sales they carry the ABC adage (Always Be Closing) and in marketing I believe in ABC as well (Always Be Communicating). As people we are all open to so many different forms of communication each and every day that you need to make a lot of noise to get noticed so keep your marketing efforts competitive at all times. Complacency kills and whether you're running a local toy store or Toys R Us, the rules stay the same aren't they.So I wish you all a very successful 2019 and naturally if you'd like help to put a strong online marketing plan in place, let us know. We'll happily invest some time to find out more about your business and look at what we would recommend to get you moving up a level.Contact me to find out how Digity can help boost your business t: 01189 100 012 / e: chris@digity.co.ukSee More

Christmas is the season for marketing. Brands all across the world ramp up their marketing efforts during the festive period, attempting to make themselves synonymous with the warm, fuzzy feelings of the holiday. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the TV adverts released by big brand names like Sainsbury’s and ASDA, which, as mentioned in another blog of ours, are an exercise in playing up emotion in the customer. This is usually done to drive people into stores by establishing a connection with them.This year however, one big name store decided to move away from the usual Christmas advert featuring happy families and stories that make you feel good - instead, Iceland has opted for something completely different. Their Christmas advert this year featured beautiful animation and a story between a little girl and a small orangutan - so far, typical Christmas TV advert. In a strange twist however, this advert has been banned by Clearcast, the company responsible for approving or rejecting adverts for broadcast. The reason? It was deemed to be promoting a political message.Back in April, Iceland became the first major UK supermarket to pledge to remove all traces of palm oil from its products by the end of 2018. This was done in a bid to halt the destruction of rainforests in south-east Asia. The demand for the oil is growing exponentially as it can be found in food, cosmetics, biodiesel and more. However, in an attempt to promote their stance through their Christmas TV advert, a film created by Greenpeace, Iceland have found themselves faced with a ban - and potentially both good and bad repercussions of their marketing move.Christmas TV adverts come under more scrutiny than ever before these days, with people ranking their favourites online, generally based on how much of an emotional reaction they elicited. Iceland’s advert will perhaps be talked about more now that it’s been banned than it would have previously - certainly the company has a headline now that others don’t. It’s also not going to prevent people from watching the pulled advert - although it’s gone from TV screens, it can be found easily online (it’s even in this blog!)Whether or not the advert should have been pulled from the air is something that’s being hotly debated across the country, but what is assured is that it’s perhaps gaining more traction now than it ever would have before.In the age of digital marketing, it’s becoming harder to silence potentially controversial adverts - in fact, Iceland’s newest advert may even reach a wider audience on the internet than it would have on TV. It’s certainly interesting how, a few years ago, a banned advert would’ve simply disappeared quietly. Now, thanks to the internet and video-sharing being popular like never before, Iceland’s marketing found its audience, just not in the place it expected.See More

After 2 and a half years of hard work studying alongside working at Digity, Ellie McDaniel has finished the last unit of her CAM Diploma and has been awarded a Distinction in Digital Marketing! This is a fantastic achievement and testament to all of her hard work, adding to the CIM Professional Certificate in Marketing obtained last year. We are really proud of Ellie's achievements and the excellent results are a true testament to the work she has put in to both her studies and Digity."I opted to specialise in digital marketing planning so I could directly use the techniques I learnt throughout the diploma to help our clients with the strategic side of their marketing plans as well as implementing them. I really enjoyed working towards this diploma as I could use my experience at Digity to incorporate real-world examples into my assessments and it was very interesting to learn the marketing theory behind the ways in which this industry works. I am grateful for all the support received from Chris and everyone at Digity and am looking forward to implementing my new knowledge and digital marketing planning techniques." - Ellie McDanielSee More

Everyone loves Christmas. The annual holiday brings with it a number of guarantees - mince pies and decorations arriving on shop shelves far too early, the Coca-Cola truck that ‘signals’ the start of the festive season (an impressive feat of marketing itself) and more recently, the Christmas TV adverts of the big chain retailers. It’s become something of a tradition to watch and compare the different adverts, to see which pulls at the heartstrings the most successfully and which fall flatter than Granddad into the sofa after a few too many Christmas drinks.Christmas adverts tend to share a collection of similarities. They often try to tell a narrative, rather than explicitly advertise a single product. They focus on certain values - families and the idea that Christmas brings people together. None of this really has much to do with visiting your local Aldi or Lidl, but the adverts themselves are incredibly popular and drive Christmas shoppers through doors. That’s because they all have one other thing in common - emotion, or more accurately, the ability to use emotion effectively.Pathos is an incredibly strong tool in marketing - it’s bluntly defined as something that evokes pity or sadness, but that can also be more broadly construed as just ‘emotion’. These big brands compete every year to create the advert that evokes the most emotion within the audience, to create a connection with that brand where there maybe wasn’t one before, and get people through the door. It’s no secret that emotion drives people’s brand decisions rather than information. Brands themselves rely on emotion - after all, consumers can often buy unbranded products that are very similar, if not the same, to their branded counterparts at cheaper prices - yet they don’t. A brand creates an emotional connection with the consumer, and as Psychology Today says, ‘A brand is nothing more than the mental representation of a product in the consumer’s mind.’It’s because of this that this type of Christmas advert exists. What better time to try and evoke an emotional connection than Christmas? While the adverts themselves can often be emotional to the point of being overly-sentimental, they achieve their goals. There’s a feeling of one-upmanship among the brands when the festive season rolls around to see whose advert can elicit the most emotional response from audiences. It’s incredibly clever marketing and although marketing has historically always used emotions to win customers, rarely has it been employed with such a heavy hand as these recent Christmas years.It’s also a slightly risky marketing move. These Christmas adverts now come under such intense scrutiny that a ‘bad’ advert will be what that brand is known for that particular year. The risk is even greater when you consider companies like John Lewis pour as much as £7m into these adverts. Interestingly, while ad spend hit a record high of £6bn last year for the Christmas period, retailers are reportedly scaling back their spend in 2018. Despite that, you can still expect to see all of your favourites on screen at some point this season.If you’re in need of any marketing advice or help with competing in the online space, get in touch with our team on 01189 100 012.See More

The Digity Team have recently been working on an exciting new site for Cubic Interactive, who develop, configure and supply a renowned project management software, Rapport3, specifically for the architecture, engineering and construction industry.As a Digity client, Cubic Interactive work with our team regularly, discussing marketing strategy, blog and press release content, case studies, social media and email campaigns. With their site not having been updated for a couple of years, it was decided that a website refresh and re-write would better represent their business and the message they want to get across to potential customers.Whereas their old website focused on selling individual software modules, their new site sells their software as one large software product, which includes all the features, updates and plugins available. Transforming how Cubic Interactive packaged and marketed their services has made a huge difference to the type of enquiries they have been receiving; they now get a lot more interest from larger companies looking to invest in extensive project management software, rather than smaller companies with minimal budget.At Digity we understand how the message you get across online is pivotal to attracting the right customers to make your business successful. Receiving enquiries from a few ideal customers will be a lot more lucrative to your business (and less time and resource consuming) than getting interest from a huge number of irrelevant sources. Our team are experienced in combining web design, content messaging, SEO, adwords, social media and email creation to form the perfect marketing strategy targeted to the customers or clients that your business thrives on.If you are interested in creating a more targeted marketing campaign or are considering a website refresh, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team on 01189 100 012 or drop us a message at info@digity.co.uk.See More

There’s only five weeks to go until the biggest retail period of the entire year - Black Friday. With so many shoppers preparing to descend upon the retail space, both in person and digitally, it’s crucial for businesses to make sure that their Black Friday marketing can stand out among the sea of competition. Maximising your promotions during this period can give your business a serious boost - for reference, this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday are expected to bring in a colossal £4.47bn of online spending alone. With that in mind and five weeks to go, we’ve compiled a list of five ways you can maximise your Black Friday promotions to get the most impact possible.Ensuring your Website is SecureWith so much shopping on Black Friday done online, it’s imperative that your store is obviously cyber secure in order to compete. Cyber-attacks account for a massive 36% of crime against all retailers, and just last Black Friday alone, more than 50 million attacks took place worldwide. Some attacks can be incredibly malicious, such as data breaches which put your customers at risk, whereas others, such as DDoS attacks are designed to make your website inaccessible, thereby losing your business. Making sure your website is completely secure, including having encryption for sensitive data, helps put your customers at ease when using your website, encouraging repeat conversions. Plan in Advance with Excellent EmailsEmails play a crucial role in successful Black Friday trading. 25% of online transactions were reported through email marketing, so get those messages out there! As Black Friday shoppers move to the digital space, it’s up to you to ensure your email campaigns are compelling. Luckily, when it comes to email campaigns, time is on your side. You’re able to create and schedule emails way ahead of time, as well as create a campaign that can run throughout the busy period, meaning you no longer have to worry about your messaging.Prepare your Social MediaEmail campaigns are part of a two-pronged attack however. Online is dominated by social media and it’s the perfect place for seasonal messaging. Update your social media pages to showcase your Black Friday offers front and centre - you can spread your messaging across numerous platforms and channels. Make sure however that your social media promotions remain in line with your brand. Like emails, social media can be scheduled, so you can have a constant stream of content. Get Creative with Rewards and StrategiesShoppers love brand loyalty. It may not seem like much sometimes, but netting a small amount of points by purchasing something from a store can really add up in customers’ eyes. Black Friday presents a great opportunity to reward loyal customers with promotions and offers that they might not otherwise have gotten. Get creative and have fun with the ideas - if it’s clear you’re enjoying the promotions, so will your customers. Target your AdvertisingTargeted advertising is the cornerstone of online shopping. You’re able to reach a small, but passionate consumer base tailored to what you’re offering. Dedicate a piece of your advertising budget to tailoring adverts on social media. Take your email list for instance and create targeted ads through Facebook. Ads can also be placed on Google, if your budget can stretch to it. Targeted ads can dramatically improve your response rate as you’re appealing directly to the people that want to listen. Black Friday provides a fantastic opportunity for retailers to make the most of their online presence and turn it into real sales. By adhering to these five tips, you can make the most out of your promotions and compete this Black Friday. If you need further help with your online presence, get in touch with our experienced team on 01189 100 012 and we can make those promotions count for more.See More

Making your social media count can be difficult these days. At the start of the year, Facebook announced they were changing their news feed system to favour personal posts over posts created by businesses, in an attempt to make the feed more ‘meaningful’ for users. The idea that businesses are struggling on Facebook is reinforced by evidence - for instance, BuzzSumo reported last year that engagements with Facebook posts created by brands and publishers has fallen by over 20% since January 2017.It’s not all doom and gloom however for business engagement on social media. Paid advertising is being utilised more than ever by businesses as it allows a company to engage with a very particular audience - an audience crafted explicitly for that business, based on criteria they have cultivated. Paid advertising works, and ever-increasing ad spend shows that it’s worth the effort, but just paying for adverts and spreading them out in front of anyone isn’t going to get you the results you’re looking for. The criteria is what’s important, and this blog will give you an idea of how best to utilise paid advertising to prevent you from wasting your money, while gaining some real leads.It’s important to know what you want to get out of your paid advertising before you wade into it. Sproutsocial states that the 5 most common goals of paid social ads are to increase traffic, increase visibility, increase engagement, increase lead generation and increase sales. Your goal is incredibly important, as it will act as the basis for everything you try to do on social media, including creating your target audience. It’s not enough for your audience to just see your adverts, they need to engage with them. Engagements lead to conversions - a paid social media ad could be what transforms a regular visitor into a returning customer.Now, organic reach in general is down across the board when it comes to social media advertising - organic reach being the audience a post would ‘naturally’ have. But that’s where paid adverts come in - and where your investment begins as well. If you pay for an advert to appear on social media, and it’s spotted by someone who is interested and they click it, that increases that post’s organic reach as well. The more the organic reach increases, the more likely that customer’s friends and family are to see it and so, thanks to that paid advert, the organic reach spreads naturally anyway. Think of the paid advert being something of a kickstart to the advert’s reach!There are a couple of important factors to keep an eye on in regards to paid advertising. Your cost per click (CPC) is how much of your budget you use each time someone clicks the link of your ad or post. CPC should be as low as possible ideally in order to get the highest return on investment you can. Meanwhile, your click through rate (CTR) tells you how many people clicked on your ad, which is an important statistic for any business looking to drive traffic.Make sure to choose the social media channel that’s best for you. Facebook has taken steps lately to shut businesses out of customers’ news feeds in an attempt to make feeds more personable, but that doesn’t mean you can’t reach people. Facebook’s user base is still huge in 2018, but the landscape is actively changing. Young people are moving more and more to image-heavy social media channels like Instagram. This summary from the Pew Research Center takes a look at the state of social media reach in the US in 2018:Paid social media advertising is a fantastic way to get your message in front of customers and potential customers that will find it interesting. As an investment, it can be a great way to expand the organic reach of your posts - it’s just important to be sure of your goal and what you want to get out of your advertising. If you need any help with a paid social media advertising plan, or want to learn more about how social media can help your business, get in touch with our experienced team on 01189 100 012.See More